Friday, June 04, 2010

Glen Urquhart and the Nazis

"The exact phrase 'separation of church and state' came out of Adolf Hitler's mouth. That's where it comes from. The next time your liberal friends talk about separation of church and state, ask them why they're Nazis."

Writing at Delaware Tomorrow, Michael Stafford refutes Urquhart's astonishing assertion in a withering post titled "Mein Gaffe." Stafford admits that Urquhart is correct in saying that Thomas Jefferson did not use the exact phrase, "separation of church and state," in his letter to the Danbury Baptists. Instead, Jefferson wrote of “building a wall of separation between church and State.”

Stafford traces the phrase back to James Madison and Roger Williams, the founder of the colony of Rhode Island, and reviews the jurisprudence, including a 19th century prohibition on clergy holding public office here in Delaware. He takes us through the history for a reason:

Why this digression into the realm of state court opinions? Because it refutes the argument that the phrase “separation of church and state” did not become a part of our Establishment Clause lexicon until the Supreme Court’s decision in Everson v Bd of Education in 1947; an argument frequently made by those who claim the phrase originated with Hitler and the Nazis. As the reader can see even from this cursory summary, the Supreme Court was not creating a new concept out of whole cloth, nor grafting a foreign (Nazi?) principle on the First Amendment--the separation between, or of, church and state has very deep roots in our history.

The claims that Democratic policies or programs resemble the horrors of Nazi Germany have flourished in the last two years. And it has not just been a few tasteless images on the web or on signs at street demonstrations.

The President’s secular socialist machine represents as great a threat to America as Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union once did.

Glen Urquhart notwithstanding, I am not a Nazi, or even a secularist, for believing in the separation of church and state. This paroxysm of Nazi allusions will eventually subside, though not before it inflicts further damage on our polity. I am glad there are Republicans who are willing to call out those who abuse history in ramping up the rhetoric.

2 Comments:

Before Urquhart presumes to deliver any more lectures on how the Nazis coined the notion of "separation of church and state", he needs to Google the term "Reichskonkordat" and read the article. The one thing that I think is worse than a liar is someone who is too lazy and ignorant to aquaint himself with the truth.